Cooking appliances, e.g., cooktops or ranges (also known as hobs or stoves), generally include one or more heated portions for heating or cooking food items within a cooking utensil placed on the heated portion. The heated portions utilize one or more heating sources to output heat, which is transferred to the cooking utensil and thereby to any food item or items within the cooking utensil. Typically, a controller or other control mechanism, such as an electromechanical switch, regulates the heat output of the heating source selected by a user of the cooking appliance, e.g., by turning a knob or interacting with a touch-sensitive control panel. The control mechanism may cycle the heating source between an activated or on state and a substantially deactivated or off state such that the average heat output of the heating source corresponds to the user-selected heat output level.
The control mechanism can utilize a temperature sensor to help control the heat output in order to regulate or otherwise limit the cooking utensil from reaching an undesired temperature level. The transfer of heat to the cooking utensil and/or food items may cause the food items or cooking utensil to overheat or otherwise cause unwanted and/or unsafe conditions on the cooktop. Although conventional cooking appliances may include a safety feature for estimating temperature at the cooking utensil, such systems are often unable to provide a suitable evaluation of the current conditions near the burner or at a cooking utensil disposed thereon. Moreover, conventional appliances may be unable to quickly evaluate the current or “live” conditions near the burner. In some systems, undesirable swings in temperature may occur at the heating source and/or cooking utensil before conventional appliances are able to detect that an excessive or deficient temperature has been reached. Additionally, some systems may rely on continued contact between the control mechanism and a heated element. Moreover, nuisance tripping may turn off a burner before it would be otherwise desired.
Accordingly, a cooktop appliance having a system for detecting temperature conditions near a heat source would be desirable. More particularly, it may be desirable for a cooktop appliance to have a system that addresses one or more of the conditions discussed above.